§ Statement of Purpose

The View from 1776 presents a framework to understand present-day issues from the viewpoint of the colonists who fought for American independence in 1776 and wrote the Constitution in 1787. Knowing and preserving those understandings, what might be called the unwritten constitution of our nation, is vital to preserving constitutional government. Without them, the bare words of the Constitution are just a Rorschach ink-blot that politicians, educators, and judges can interpret to mean anything they wish.

"We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams, to the Officers of the First Brigade, Third Division, Massachusetts Militia, October 11, 1798.

The Income Gap and Immigration

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One point, mentioned only tangentially or implicitly in the piece by Larry Auster and in the New York Times op-ed article he references, deserve some emphasis: a major source of the income gap, one of the holy-of-holies of liberal-socialism.

Socialism’s definition of social justice is income and property-ownership equality. So, by definition, no matter how much money the lowest income levels make, the existence of a gap between them and the top levels is transgression of social justice, if not a crime against humanity.

It should be obvious that the flood of low-skill, poorly educated Mexican workers is bound to increase the income gap by dragging down the lower levels, even should the income of top levels of earners stand still.

Larry Auster’s June 3, 2006, post in View From The Right (“Low-skilled immigrant workers not needed, says establishment economist in Times”) summarizes the arguments advanced in the Times op-ed by Barry R. Chiswick, who is head of the economics department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.